Track-brake for railway-cars.



No. 864,754. PATENTED AUG. 27, 1907. W. MINER.

TRACK BRAKE FOR RAILWAY CARS.

APPLICATION FILED MAB-.18. 1907.

' 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

A TTORNE Y3 PATENTED AUG. 27, 1907,

W. MINER. TRACK BRAKE FOR RAILWAY CARS.

TS-SHEET 2.

APPLIOATIOH FILED MAR. 18. 1907.

W) T/VESSES UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WALTER MINER, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO MINER MAN UFAGT URING AND EQUIPMENT (10., OF ORESTON, IOWA.

Specification of Letters Patent,

1 TRACK-BRAKE FOR RAILWAY-CARS.

Patented Aug. 27, 1907.

Application filed March 18,1907. Serial No- 362,961.

Toall whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WALTER MINER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a new and useful Track-Brake for Railwayflars, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has reference to improvements in track brakes for railway cars and more particularly where such brakes are used in connection with means for switching the cars on various other tracks and imparting to the cars being switched a momentum controllable by an operator at some point along the line of way over which the cars travel when approaching the switches.

The present invention is an imrovement upon the device shown in my Letters Patent No. 836,269, granted November 20, 1906, and the object of the present invention is to simplify the construction there shown and to make the same more compact and certain in operation.

In the apparatus of the aforesaid Letters Patent there is provided a line of track leading to a number of track switches and said line of track is installed upon an incline so that the cars thereon receive a certain momentum by reason of the force of gravity acting thereon. In operating the apparatus as set forth in the aforesaid Letters Patent, the cars are propelled on to the inclined way by means of an engine or otherwise and gravitate toward the bottom thereof. Along this inclined way and arranged on each side of each rail are greatly elongated brake shoes. A system of cylinders with pistons designed to be operated by fluid pressure is arranged to act upon these brake shoes through systems of levers so located that on the movement of the pistons in the proper direction the elongated brake shoes will be caused to approach the rail between them and so grasp the wheels of the cars moving along the track near the peripheries of said wheels and thus apply to them a pressure or braking force sufficient to retard the rotation of the wheels to the desired extent and thus control the speed of the cars as they approach the switches; Fluid pressure may be applied from some central point such as a switch tower, from which the switches also may be operated, so that the whole system may be under the control of a single operator if so desired.

Now, by my present invention I connect the pistons of the fluid pressure cylinders directly to the brake shoes upon one side of a rail and connect the cylinders, by direct connections, to the brake shoes upon the other side of the rail. By this means the pistons and the cylinders are both relatively and actually movable with reference to the rail as a fixture and the brake shoes readily adapt themselves to the wheels traveling upon the tracks, and all levers and other parts tending to produce a multiplicity of mechanisms are avoided.

By my present invention there is provided a bedpl ate which may be secured directly to a tie and on this is mounted another plate having a certain amount of longitudinal movement with reference to said bedplate. This second plate carries one of the brake shoes and the fluid-pressure cylinder as fixtures thereof, while the other brakeslioe is mounted to have a certain amount of longitudinal movement upon the second plate and is directly connected to the piston moving in the fluid-pressure cylinder. Now, when fluid under pressure is introduced into the cylinder, it will be seen that the two brake shoes acting upon a relatively fixed object such as a car wheel will cause a relative movement of the two brake shoes toward each other and an adjusting movement of the intermediate bed-plate upon the main bed-plate until the parts have grasped the car wheel with the requisite degree of braking pressure.

The invention will be iully understood from the following detailed description taken in connection with the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, in which,-

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a section of railroad track, including the incline approaching the switching point, with rail brakes applied thereto and my improved means of operating these brakes applied to the brake shoes; Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of a track equipped with my present invention, with parts omitted; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of one of the brake operating devices, with the brake shoes and track rail shown in section; and Fig. 4 is a rear end view of one of the fluid -pressure operated cylinders and the supports therefor.

Referring to the drawings, there is shown an inclined section of track 1 extending from a main section 2 of track to a number of switches 3, the latter being indicated in a partially diagrammatic manner, and will be understood to be of ordinary type. Along each rail of the track in the inclined section 1 are elongated brake shoes 4 which may be constructed as shown in my aforesaid Letters Patent. Each track is provided with a pair of brake shoes, that is, there is a brake shoe on each side of the track in position to engage the wheels of cars passing along said track on the side faces of their rims, and these brake shoes may be of any desired length according to the extent of braking action that it may be desirable to apply to the cars under the condition of th 0 cars being pushed to the incline and given an initial impulse thereon by an engine and then controlled to the extent desired by an operator, after which they are allowed to take some one of the switches or remain on the main track through the operation of the switches 3. The degree of braking action of the brake shoes may be such as to permit a car to enter one of the sidings through one of the switches 3 with a momentum which will carry it to the end of the siding, no matter how long the siding may be, or its momentum may be so reduced that the car will bump into another car or cars on the track without damage thereto or with sufii cient force to cause the coupling together of the oncoming car with the standing car or cars without damage to either.

No particular description of the brake shoes is necessary since these are fully described in my aforesaid Letters Patent. They may consist of longitudinally disposed bars with suitably hardened bearing faces and strengthening ribs and these bars may be supported at proper intervals upon structures secured to the ties or otherwise fastened to the roadbed and which structures also carry the operating mechanism for the brake shoes.

In my present invention I locate at appropriate intervals, crosswise of the track or longitudinally of the ties, bed-plates 5 extending under each rail 6 and for a distance on each side thereof. These bed-plates may have at one end a broadened or head portion 7, and this head portion 7 and also the extreme other end of the bed-plate may be provided with slots 8 for the reception of anchor bolts 9.

Each bed-plate is provided with a longitudinal, dovetail recess 10 in which travels a dovetail tongue 11 centrally and longitudinally disposed on a supplemental bed-plate 12 movable on the primary bed plate 5 but held thereto against accidental displacement by means of the dovetail tongue 11 engaging in the groove 10. This supplemental bed-plate is provided at one end with an expanded or head portion 13 and near the other end with an upright 14 strengthenedby a rib 15, all formed in one piece with the bed-plate 12. A fluid-pressure cylinder 16 has its base secured to the head portion 13 of the supplemental bed-plate 12 by bolts 17 so as to move with this bed-plate, and in the bed-plate 12 there is also formed a slot 18 having one portion with straight walls and another continuing portion 19 with under-cut walls. Engaging in this slot 18 is a dovetail tongue 20 formed on the under side of an upright 21 having a portion 22 resting on the upper face of the supple mental bed-plate 12. The upright 21. is also formed with a boss 23 to which is attached piston-rod 24 fast to a suitable piston confined within the cylinder 16. Each upright 21 is connected to one of the brake shoes I so that the latter will be moved by the movement of its uprights 21. The different cylinders 16 are connected by fluid-conducting pipes 27 to a suitable switch tower 25, from which latter fluid under pressure may be conducted by the pipes 27 to the cylinders 16 as desired. The ends of the brake shoes are divergent and connected by suitable brackets 26 to the ties.

It will now be seen that if a suitable fluid under pressure, say, compressed air, is introduced through the pipes 27 into the cylinders 16, the pistons therein will be driven in a direction to force the brake shoes l carried by the uprights 21 toward the tratlic rail 6 until the brake shoes engage a car wheel. Now, the stoppage of the brake shoe by the car wheel will cause the lluid pressure in the cylinder to react against the cylinder itself and force it to move away from the rail 6, thereby causing the supplemental bed-plate l2 and the other brake shoe to participate in such movement until finally the brake shoe 4 carried by the uprights 14 will be brought into engagement with the car wheel, when the two brake shoes will grasp the side faces of the ear wheel near the periphery thereof with a force commensurate with the pressure of the fluid introduced into the cylinders 16. It will be understood, of course, that this fluid pressure is under the control of an operator in the switch tower, and, therefore, the amount of braking action between the brake shoes and the car wheels may be such as desired by the operator to control the speed of the cars as they move down the inclined way toward the switches 3.

It will also be seen that by the present invention I have reduced the operating mechanism necessary for the actuation of the switches to a minimum of parts, and thereby avoid all complications and the liability of wear or damage or breakage such as might occur with the lever system of my aforesaid Letters Patent.

I claim:

1. In a track brake for railway cars, a pair of brake shoes arranged on opposite sides of a trafiic rail, a bedplato extending under the rail and to both sides thereof, a supplemental bed-plate movable on the prime bed-plate and having one of the brake shoes fast thereon, a support for the other brake shoe movable on the supplemental bedplate, and a iluid pressure actuating device mounted on and iixed to the supplemental bed-plate and directly connected to the movable brake shoe support.

2. In a track brake for railway cars, a bed-plate arranged under and to both sides of a traffic rail and having a longitudinal dovetail groove formed therein, a supplemental bed-plate mounted on the prime bed-plate and having a dovetail tongue engaging the dovetail groove in the prime bed-plate, a brake shoe support arranged on one side of the tratllc rail and in fixed relation to the supple mental bed-plate, a fluid-pressure operating device fast on the supplemental bed-plate on the other side of the traflicrail, and another brake shoe support movable relative to the supplemental bed-plate and directly connected to the fluid-pressure operating device.

3. A track brake for railways comprising brake shoes arranged on opposite sides of a trafiic rail in operative relation thereto, a number of bed-plates extending under the rail and to each side thereof, a corresponding number of supplemental bed-plates movable on the prime bedplates, supports for one of the brake shoes fast on the supplemental bed-plates, supports for the other brake shoe movable on said supplemental bed-plates, and fluid-pres sure operating devices for the brakes, one fast on each supplemental bed-plate and directly connected to the movable brake shoe supports carried by the supplemental bedplates.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

WALTER MINER.

Witnesses II. L. KNIcKnnnooKEn, W. H. CoLwnLn 

